DESIGN/DESIGN
One may be no expert in motor vehicles to get enchanted by the atmosphere of the old times when entering the sales gallery of the company ‚Veteran Car Stangl‘. There they stand aligned, in running order, shiny cars of many well-known world brands which immediately arouse a desire to get into one and go for a cruse. Although I’m charmed by the veteran cars from the first moment, I ask the company‘s founder and the doyen of the Czech veteran car movement, Josef Štangl:
What kind of people buy veteran cars and why? There were always enthusiasts for historic cars in the republic, but until the revolution everything went on the fan base in reality, people put veteran cars in running order by themselves in the garage, they were mainly cars of the Czech origin because the world renowned brands such as Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar and Ferrari were hardly available. After the coup two decades ago, the borders opened and so foreign cars became available for the Czech people interested and it also led to the economic development of a large section of the society. Some people therefore could afford to buy a car, which they had dreamt since childhood and had it as a toy on the shelf, or looked at it with admiration and read its technical data in motoring magazines. Our customers are generally strong personalities and they make it clear, for instance by coming to a golf tournament or to Opera Ball not in a production car, but in a shiny vintage vehicle. Recently there has been more and more talk about the investment potential in works of art. Do historic cars have a similar potential? Of course, historic cars have the potential. Unlike modern cars, which are losing their value rapidly, the price of classic cars rather increases. Of course it’s nothing breathtaking, but it is a certainty. However there are exceptions, cars that increase their value very fast year after year. But people unfamiliar with the market can’t know it in advance. More or less it can be assumed that historic cars evaluate approximately one hundred percent of its original price in ten years. The price of the cars is naturally not determined by just guessing - there are catalogues dividing cars into five categories according to the technical condition and we follow them in the sales. If you choose to invest your money into a veteran car, I certainly recommend consulting an expert. Otherwise it may easily happen that you invest badly. In case I decide to acquire a veteran car, even for pleasure, is it more advantageous for me to contact your company? Of course. Our people visit the auctions of veteran cars and the fairs all over both Europe and the U.S. and we know what the real price range of individual cars is and what the current offer is. Our restoration workshop employs about twenty people, experts who understand their work very well and can not only take the car apart and fix it, but they are also able to produce, for some unique vehicles, spare parts which don’t exist anywhere. Moreover, it is a sort of professional honor for us, that our cars look good, which means it is restored to the time when it left the assembly line as a new car. Just today one customer from Moravia has called me that he couldn‘t start the veteran car which he bought through us. Of course, I gave him some advice over the phone and if it won’t help, our mechanics will go to the customer and fixes the car on the spot. If it was a more serious malfunction, we will take the car into our workshop where we‘ll get it in order. We care for our customers.
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4.3.2010 9:33:36